Apple Recap: Smaller Bull Case, Ample Cuts, Market Value Worries

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) fell a massive 12.35 percent to $450.50 on Thursday for its worst single day since September 29, 2008, when it plunged 17.9 percent after the U.S. House of Representatives initially rejected the $700 billion TARP bailout. The selloff was clearly sparked by the fiscal furst-quarter’s earnings report released Wednesday after close of trading. Here’s a cheat sheet to the reviews that followed on Thursday and other key developments related to the company:

Big Bull Eases Off

Brian White of Topeka Capital Markets announced in a note to investors on Thursday that he was cutting his 12-month price target on Apple from a remarkably high $1,111 to $888 per share on the tumbling stock price. “Given the decline in the share price, we are lowering our 12-month price target to $888 from $1,111 for Buy-rated Apple,” White wrote. He added that Apple’s immediate decline had left the stock trading “at less than six-times (ex-cash) our calendar year 2014 EPS estimate and we believe there is quite a bit of bad news priced into the stock at current levels, while estimate resets lower the bar for the future.”

The analyst also cut his earnings estimates for the March quarter and for the full fiscal year. However, he added, profit and sales cycle were likely to reach their bottoms in the second-quarter of fiscal 2013… (Read more)